Our decision to expand our King Street restaurant, Lee, and open Lee Lounge on the former premises of Madeline’s, resulted from several factors: Lee was doing extremely well, I was itching to present the new recipes I picked up on my travels to Singapore, and the winds of change were propelling me in that direction.
I’m always aware of evolving dining habits, and Lee Lounge responds to the social trend of people who want to go out for a light dinner, or head out after dinner to a cool place where they have the option of eating something other than deep-fried nachos and salty peanuts. My goal is to make the best lounge food in the city.
And once I’m serving specialties like Shigoku oysters from B.C. and yummy appetizers with a Malaysian asam sauce – that’s made from tamarind paste and ginger flower– it only makes sense to match them with some delicious drinks.
Lee Lounge will be offering a great green forest of cocktails: passion fruit, lychee, ripe mangosteen. We’ll also have exotic Chinese liqueurs, sake, and our exclusive wine list.
We’re taking bar food out of the deep fryer and up into the first class lounge!
The Lee Lounge menu will include some “house specialties” designed for lounge hounds– like our late night “Pick-me-up and settle-me-down” espresso cup of chicken broth. If you’ve been bar-hopping all night, your stomach needs some nourishment.
We’re planning to open the space by July.
Susur Lee, Canada’s most famous chef, is the man behind Toronto’s Lee and soon-to-be-opened Lee Lounge. He also has restaurants in New York (Shang), Washington (Zentan) and Singapore (Chinois).
